


Hell awaits us

by whoevencares



Category: Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Horses, Illness, M/M, Neglect, Not so sad, Starvation, sheep?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-17 17:41:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9335528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoevencares/pseuds/whoevencares
Summary: Josh and Tyler are two young lambs, trapped in their destined death beds.With only months to go until their impending looming death, will they make a break, or will they fall to their deaths?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know this sounds like a funny fic cause they're sheep n stuff, but it does brush across some triggering content.
> 
> (Just to make it clear, yes, the characters are sheep.)

The day started cold, drizzly and gloomy. The lambs stood huddled in a small corner of the barn, shivering and lonely, calling out to their mothers. Rotten hay lay damp and decomposing below their muddy hooves, and uneasily trickling from the cracked roof was icy cold drops of water.

Josh couldn’t bear the despairing mournful cries of the other skeletal lambs around him. His ears felt crippled and bruised from the piercing wails penetrating through his skull. The side of his body was pressed up against the metal gate leading to the open field, and he wanted nothing more than to be out there and free. No longer trapped.

Heavy laboured breaths of the lambs were only ever broken by the preaching of the nutcase who stood beside the decaying bodies.

“God bless you all. May he guide us through till heaven where we can rejoice an-”

“Stop!” A bony malnourished lamb screamed from the edge of the huddle. Slumped sideways on the floor, the lamb’s eyes were almost shut. Everyone knew their own death awaited them, and no one mentioned the corpses piled at the far corner of the barn. They knew better than to talk about it any more. The winter was rough one with not a snowdrop in sight.

An overpowering, repulsive, vile smell seeped from the mound. Nobody went near it.

“You will burn in hell,” The lamb screeched, bashing its head against the correlated metal. “WE WILL ALL BURN IN HELL. LORD HELP US ALL!” The abused metal shook the foundations of the barn as the metal rung out against the thrashing and bashing.

Josh’s head was pounding from the continuous arguing. God couldn’t be real. If he was so ‘kind’, why would he put someone through so much pain and suffering. Josh had given up hope long long ago. Fuck religion. Religion was for the privileged.

======

Josh woke from fitful nightmares of his death, envisioned in every horrifying way that was known to sheep. Everyday he heard a new story about how other lambs would be brutally slaughtered while they lay starving and sick. The list only got longer.

Looking up, he immediately noticed the cause of his wake.

“Where am I?” The small lamb bleated. He was nourished and clean. Another new one. Snatched from its mother and bitterly tossed into this deathbed.

“Ask no questions, get n-”

“MOOOOOTTTTHHHERRR, MOOTTTTHHEEEER,” he bawled out with his eyes shut tightly.

“Shut the fuck up,” Josh interrupted, “There’s no hope round here. Don’t go looking for any or you’ll get yourself killed.” Josh’s head was already aching from the constant noises of the barn. The last thing he wanted was a screaming child.

“Killed?” The boy looked up at him with wide frightened eyes.

“What? Should I have said stabbed in the neck with a knife? Is that more clear?” Josh sneered down. Josh hadn’t felt anything but despair and anger in a long long time. All other feeling were foreign to him nowadays.

The small terrified lamb blinked his eyes and let the big rounded tears fall from his eyes. Josh didn’t ever get the chance to learn what compassion meant before he was torn away from his mother. To him, himself was his only priority. Nothing else mattered anymore. After seeing his own mother with a bullet lodged in her head, his whole life was spun around. The fucking human had killed his only friend in life, and he was going to get justice. He need revenge. He wanted that man dead. More than dead. He wanted to tear off every limb and bone until he was nothing more than unrecognisable scraps.

“Will y-you look after me then?” Asked the frightened lamb innocently. Josh’s first instinct was to scowl at the small boy and kick him straight in the jaw. But an unknown feeling washed through his body as he found himself answering the question.

“Don’t expect me to take a bullet for you, but I’ll give you a tour of what there is in this shithole I guess.” It may have not been a clear yes, but for Tyler it was enough.

“I’m Josh. Mess with me and you’re dead meat.”

“I’m T-Tyler. What does dead mean?”

======

Everyday was getting harder to carry on. A small bucket of moulded feed was hurled into the barn every few days, and despite the nauseating smell, Josh pushed to try and get as much of it in his body as he could. This was survival of the fittest at it’s finest. No race segregation, no wealth divide. Pure luck.

The pile of corpses sitting in the corner was getting bigger and harder to ignore with every passing month. Not a single lamb ever verbally addressed the situation, it was all done through alternative ways of communication.

“She’s bleeding!” A panicked voiced bleated loudly. Within seconds the whole barn had fallen into hysteria.

Nobody dies from exsanguination. Only starvation. The sight of the blood led everyone into free fall.

“Why is blood coming out of her mouth?” Another frantic voice screamed over the top of the others.

"This is the end. We're done for."

“STOP EVERYBODY STOP,” Josh shouted as he made an attempt to take action.

The screaming ceased and in the middle of the barn lay a malnourished sheep with its eyes wide open and unfocused. Thick red blood oozed from her open mouth. No heartbeat. No breathing. Lifeless.

The sheep slowly shuffled away, leaving the dead body in the middle of the farm.

“WE’RE ALL DESTINED FOR HELL,” cackled the nutcase.

“Hell doesn’t fucking exist,” yelled another.

"The only thing that's exists in this crack pit of a barn is insanity!"

The whole barn was shouting at each other in anger. Looking for the blame. Looking for a reason. 

Coughing to get the attention of the barn, he instructed the others. “We need to move her to the pile. No questions asked,” Josh ordered with a hollow voice. “It’s nothing serious.”

“LIES. This is a message from God. We have all done evil. HELL AWAITS US,” the nutcase chortled menacingly.

“I will fuck you up if you don’t shut up," Josh replied coldly.

Josh wasn’t stupid. He knew that diseases went around. With conditions like this, it was shocking they were still living. He tries to convince himself white lies were needed. He wasn’t doing a bad thing? Without them, anarchy would arise.

======

“Josh,” Tyler said with uncertainty. “That back there, um… You were lying right?”

“Tyler, no matter what, I promise to keep you safe.”

“But that’s disease isn’t it?” Tyler was fidgeting uncomfortably with a nervous aura. Josh hated seeing Tyler like this, but there was nothing he could do about it until they got out. It only motivated him to work harder at the escape plan.

“This isn’t important.”

“Yes it is. Answer my question,” Tyler shouted back at Josh, becoming increasingly distressed

“No it isn’t. By next month we will be out of this farm.” Josh replied. Still seemingly calm

“How do you know we won’t catch it first?”

“Tyler, I Joshua William Dun, promise to keep you safe,” Josh spoke sincerely dropping the protective and arrogant façade. 

=======

Within just a few short days, it was clear disease had hit the barn. The death count was only at four, but half the sheep had blisters appearing on their skin. Sunken eyes dismally looked across the barn with heartbroken faces. Not a single sheep was standing on it’s four legs.

Josh had been keeping a close eyes on the wooden wall of the barn that was slowly disintegrating. Josh reckoned it would be less than a week before the wall would be weak enough to make a small whole.

“You’re distracted. I can tell. What is it?”  
  
“No shit. Do you want to escape or not?”

“So what’s the ingenious plan you are plotting then?”

“I’m working on it Tyler. Be ready. It’s going to happen soon”

Tyler plodding back over to the metal gate, with the view of the hills. Josh followed and carefully sat beside the other.

The rain had washed away the coating of mud sitting on top of the hills, leaving the hills glowing and invigorated. The green stood out, despite the lack of sunshine. The brightness was deceiving. The temperature still rested in the single digits, occasionally dipping into the negatives.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Josh and Tyler find the true meaning of happiness.

Finally, like watching paint dry, the first small cracks of the wooden wall began to crack. Josh had never felt a better feeling. A light airy feeling filled his lungs joined with a heavy intense feeling of apprehension. Although the cracks were small, they gave away the walls dirty secret.  
It was rotten inside. Rotten to the core. The constant dampness had corrupted the wood, leaving it fragile and broken.

The crippled and demoralised wall was going to be his free pass out. 

He padded over to Tyler to tell him the news. A bubbling feeling was burning in his lungs and he knew everything was going to change. Soon. 

“Tyler,” Josh hissed impatiently. “We have to go.”

“Now?!” Tyler whispered back in shock. They kept their voices low.

“No, you dimwit. Tonight.”

"Well thanks for letting me know in advance," Tyler sarcastically replied, with his eyebrows raised. Tyler was getting used to the fact that Josh only had one emotion. That emotion being 'asshole mode'. But the emotion shown towards him was better than anyone else had ever treated him, and that was what mattered.

"This is in advance." Josh replied, slightly confused not fully understanding Tyler. His voice still lacked any emotion

"Cheer up you bad ass," Tyler joked, knowing Josh wouldn't anyway, even if he asked. Josh had built his walls and nothing would break them anytime soon.

Then, from a few feet away, another sheep inputted into their conversation. "The outside world is a bad place. Don't bother."

"Fuck off," Josh retorted as a natural reflex. The scowl was back on his face with the harshest death stare he could muster, and he flicked his ears at the sheep. "Tyler don't listen to him," Josh ordered protectively. "Tonight."

"Tonight." Tyler replied, mostly to reassure Josh.

=======

In the middle of the night, Josh nudged the sleeping Tyler harshly in the ribs. He placed one hoof over Tyler’s mouth to make sure that Tyler was silent as he woke. As he kicked Tyler 'gently' the boy finally awoke. Jumping up in surprised Tyler gave Josh a dirty look in regard to the stinking mud now on his face.

"Escape," Josh whispered. Tyler didn't need a reminder of what they were about to do. It had been on his mind all day. They were really going to do this. This was it.

“We have to break that wall,” Josh slowly mouthed at Tyler, being careful not to make any noise. The other sheep lay in one big huddle like penguins in the arctic to avoid the harsh winter winds. Carefully tiptoeing to the far wall of the barn, Tyler held his breath and stood tall on his four legs. 

"Are you for real? We'll wake up everyone?" Tyler mouthed back. His heart was beating far too fast to be a healthy speed, and his adrenaline was through the roof. He had expected the plan to be a little less rushed, and a little more sentimental. After all, they were leaving the place they once called simultaneously home and hell. Now it was only hell to them.

"You've got to trust me. Just run when I say."

"Okay," Tyler said with an unsure look painted across his face. Josh's wool was matted to his face with a layer of sweat, and Tyler realised he wasn't the only terrified one.

"Three," Josh instructed. Time wasn't slowing down. If anything time started to slip away. Everything suddenly felt rushed. Tyler was the type of sheep who needed extra time to process everything. His emotions didn't need to catch up with him, he needed to catch up with them.

"Two," They both inhaled together, the noise still less than a whisper.

"One."

Then they were both moving with speed. 

Bam. 

The wall had cracked on impact with their bony frames like Josh predicted. The world was out there. The world was waiting for them. 

Neither of them ran. They stood dead still. Wide eyes interlocked in shock. Heavy breaths in complete synchronisation.

They were free...

======

"You ready to run?" Josh asked with smile of liberation on his face.

"Born ready," Tyler laughed, breaking into a run in front of Josh. Shouting in faux anger Josh chased Tyler with a smiley menacing look.

Through the pitch black they ran through the farm, not once looking back at what was once their destined death beds. As they came to the edge of the farm, Tyler slowed to a jog to find a way round the fencing, however Josh carried on running ahead.

"Tyler, no time for dawdling!" Josh shouted out as he kept on running.

Tyler understood this wasn't a good time to be disagreeing with Josh, but were they really going to do this? 

"If I fucking break my leg I'm blaming you. Not everyone is like you if you hadn't realised."

"You're already swearing," Josh breathlessly laughed. "You're closer than you think to becoming me, son."

"I cannot believe you."

Building up momentum, they recklessly leaped over the stone wall lining the perimeter of the farm. On landing, they both tumbled and were knocked off their hooves. Although even that didn't tear the smiles off their faces. 

"We're free!" Tyler shouted out in disbelief. "We're actually free!"

"We did it!" Josh shouted to the sky grinning in disbelief.

"Grass?" Tyler questioned.

Soft delicate blades fluttered in the wind below them. Only a faint intricate outline of the gently swaying grass could be seen in the darkness of the night.

Lowering his head, Josh cautiously nibbled at the plant. "Fuck. This is the best thing I've ever tasted."

"Holy shit," Tyler commented, as he plunged his entire head into the overgrown ground. 

The two continued to trek in the moonlight, only stopping to settle down for the night. 

The day that changed everything. The night to reflect.

======

The new and strange sound of chirping birds awoke the two boys. Remembering that they are no longer weighed down by the destiny of death, they put smiles on their faces and jump up to the sky.

Two young sheep, barley grown past lambs. Alone in the world, but so very much surrounded. Surrounded by all they could ever want. Surrounded by freedom.

They start the day by running through the open abandoned fields with not a care in the world. Their lungs as light as balloons in the sky. There hearts as light as a feather. 

Skipping. Prancing. Dancing. They are free as can be.

Tyler sings up to the heavens while he taps his feet on the solid grassed floor. The sun shines down through the clouds, creating a spotlight for them to shine in. This is their stage. And they own it.

======

"Is this what happiness feels like?" Josh asked when they're staring up at the clouds. The adrenaline left over from the night before having been all used up. The laid with their backs to the ground. Limbs floppy and relaxed. Breaths deep and slow.

"Josh, what do you see in the sky?" Tyler asked, completely ignoring Josh's question.

"I see human. A nasty human with their fists in the air," Josh sighed. "Why?"

"Look again, tell me in more detail. I want to know"

"Well, the human-" Josh furrowed his eyebrows squinting at the cloud. Blinking, he tries to focus on the cloud with determination."Sorry Tyler. It's floated away. It's just a blob now. What's so important about the clouds."

"Exactly."

"Expand?"

"None of that matters anymore. There is no importance. Let it float away. Hakuna matata. Means no worries"

"And?"

"Well Josh, that's what happiness feels like." Tyler smiled, answering his question.

======

After grazing on the grass for what feels like minutes, until they realise it's been hours. The sun is almost at it's highest in the sky. Carrying on, they continue trekking on wards. No map. No compass. They don't know where there going.

After a couple hours of walking they catch sight of a small horse stable next to a cottage. 

Slowly approaching the barn, the decide to make the decision to ask for directions. Josh feels intense pain just thinking about any type of wooden barn, but it was all for survival. Staying alive makes you do crazy things, and there's nothing you can do about it.

"Ryan! Ryan! Ryan! Look," A hyperactive horse called out while sporadically leaping around his stable. Leaning back onto its hind legs he kicked his front hooves onto the stable door to get a better view of the two newcomers.

"Hello there," The horse, who they assumed was Ryan, greeted them. His eyes blinked softly with ease as he bowed his head to them. "I'm Ryan, and this is Brendon," Nodding his head in the direction of the excitable horse.

"Hi, you wouldn't happen to know the direction of any sheep herds around here would you?" Josh tentatively asked.

"Ah perhaps someone around here may know. And may I ask why?"

"It's complicated,"

"That's what they all say. Bad breakup?" Ryan asked blissfully unaware of their story.

"More like a close encounter with death that we've escaped thanks to this guy," Tyler butted in answering for Josh. "We're not here to stay. We just want to find a free herd of kind like us."

"Pete will know!" Brendon exclaimed. "Hey Pete," Brendon shouted leaning his head out from his stable. 

"Sup?" A pearly white horse asked as it stuck its head from out of his stable.

"You know of the nearest sheep herd?" 

"No," Tyler butted in again. "Nearest free sheep herd. There is a difference."

"Hmmm. Let me think. Well your best bet is 50 miles east through the mountains and south of the valley. Probably quite a few down there. You're bound to run into one of them."

"We've no compass. We've no map. We've no nothing." Josh tried to explain. 

"Do not be afraid young men. Simply follow the way the sun sets. You'll find yourself there sooner of later. This is a deserted land. You can see the horizon from every angle."

"Thank you. One day we will return to thank you properly, but we have nothing to return at this moment in time."

"Wrong. You have humanity. That is more than enough. I wish you the best."

"We should be on our way."

"WAIT." Brendon interrupted urgently. "We should sing the good luck song together to make sure they are safe," Brendon suggested with wide eyes and a tone of hopefulness.

"I agree Bren. All together now," Ryan conducted.

And they sang. The horses who showed more compassion than either of them could comprehend. The horses who would lead them to their final stage. A stage where they were the main characters. A stage where they weren't so alone.

In any other situation Josh would have smashed his head in, but this was oddly comforting. It reminded him of the nursery rhymes his mother once softly hummed to him as he fell asleep in soft musky hay. Those days were long gone now.

He looked over to Tyler with a hurricane of emotion swirling around him. Happiness brimming on the edge of his eyes. 

Everything was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you spot any mistakes please let me know.
> 
> And yes... I lied. This will be split up into three parts not two.
> 
> Don't expect chapter three any time soon. School's a bitch

**Author's Note:**

> This is fucking weird. I've taken a turn for the worst.  
> Save me.
> 
>  
> 
> Part two will be soon. It's already written but I only proof read the first chunk.


End file.
